Hurricanes Bring the East's Best Record to the Islanders' Barn
Carolina tries to shake off a flat night in Nashville while New York hopes a disciplined game protects its wild-card perch
Written before the game
Carolina walks in as the class of the East, but it also walks in off a loss. The question is whether the Islanders can make this a tight, quiet night, because the chance numbers lean Carolina's way.
The Hurricanes are 12-3-2, first in the Metropolitan and the Eastern Conference, with a plus 24 goal difference. They are 7-2-1 on the road and 7-2-1 over their last ten, though they carry a one-game losing streak. Over their last ten games, Carolina's chances were worth 3.93 expected goals a night (expected goals measure how many goals a team's chances are worth), against 2.80 allowed.
New York sits at 7-5-2, holding the second wild-card spot with a plus 1 goal difference and a 4-2-1 home mark. Over its last ten, its chances were worth 2.93 a night while opponents' chances were worth 3.21.
For the Islanders, the path is a low-event game: stay out of the penalty box and keep Carolina's chances to a minimum. For Carolina, it is simply getting back to the chances it usually creates.